Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) has acquired an undisclosed percentage of stake in German biotech company CureVac during its participation at the biotech firm’s $126 million financing round.
QIA is the latest high-profile investor to come on board CureVac before it heads to a potential stock market listing. This is the fourth capital infusion in two months for the firm which had sold its 10% stake for a $171 million investment to British pharmaceutical company GSK this week.
CureVac’s total investment from private financing round now stands at $640 million including $343 million investment from the German government also made ain June in for its 23% stake.
The Tuebingen-based company, which is backed by Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates, also secured an $85.79 million loan from the European Investment Bank earlier this month.
CureVac is said to have raised $126 million from QIA and a group of existing and new investors.
CureVac is a pioneer in the so-called messenger RNA approach for developing vaccines and monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) for infectious diseases. mRNA vaccines use ribonucleic acid (RNA), a chemical messenger that evinces an immune response when injected by instructing cells to make proteins that mimic pathogens.
The approach, also being deployed in experimental COVID-19 vaccines by BioNTech and partner Pfizer and Moderna, is yet to be approved in any therapy. The firm is planning a stock market listing in September or October as per reports.
